WASHINGTON — Intraparty fighting over an elections overhaul measure stalled Republicans’ agenda before the July 4 recess, delaying critical funding bills ahead of the September deadline.
When Congress returns Monday, lawmakers face a growing to-do list, including passing fiscal year 2027 spending measures.
The U.S. House has eight legislative days left before its month-long August recess and another 15 days before the start of the new fiscal year, Oct. 1. The Senate, which has yet to agree on a topline number for the 12 spending bills, has 20 legislative days remaining before its August break and 12 days in September.
“I think we need to get our jobs done,” U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Birmingham, said as lawmakers were sent home early last week because of the standstill. “Appropriations is a fundamental responsibility of Congress.”
When House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., scrapped votes early last week, he thwarted progress on several priorities, including two appropriations bills that were set to hit the floor before the holiday. One bill would fund energy and water development and the other measure would fund national security programs.
Those measures could come up for a floor vote as early as next week if Republican leadership can tamp down the rebellion over the SAVE America Act. Over the next few weeks, lawmakers will scramble to make progress this month ahead of the extended recess.
So far, the House has passed two of its 12 annual spending bills on the floor, leaving 10 remaining.
In May and June, the chamber approved bills to fund military construction, veterans affairs and agriculture programs. Passing the bills on the House floor can provide leverage for negotiations with the Senate on the final measures later this summer and fall.
Alabama earmarks in House-passed bills
In the military construction bill, U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, secured a $53 million earmark for an access control point at Anniston Army Depot.
Alabama could receive nearly $18 million for rural community projects as part of the House-passed agricultural appropriations bill.
Four members of the state’s delegation secured millions for water treatment and rural health projects, and U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, an appropriations cardinal, secured more than $8 million for a defense manufacturing training center in Muscle Shoals.
“This is an important first step toward delivering the resources our communities need to strengthen critical water infrastructure,” U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, said of his two earmarks included in the agriculture funding bill. “North Alabama families deserve reliable, safe water systems, and I will keep working with my colleagues to push these projects across the finish line.”
The House Appropriations Committee has advanced all fiscal year 2027 measures out of the panel this year, largely on party lines. On the Senate side, the panel has yet to consider any of its 12 bills for the upcoming fiscal year as partisan disputes have bubbled up over defense and non-defense spending levels.
With the midterms rapidly approaching and a waning number of legislative days before the Oct. 1 deadline, lawmakers will likely have to rely on a stopgap measure to avoid a shutdown and fund the government after the end of the current fiscal year.
“October 1 is the new fiscal year, so you know there is a good chance that at least several of these bills will have to be on a CR, and they may very well go until after the election,” Aderholt told Alabama Daily News before the recess.
But Aderholt said after Election Day, lawmakers hope to “regroup” work on the spending bills to thwart a full-year continuing resolution, which would keep funding levels flat in the new fiscal year.
As the country grappled with three shutdowns last year and into this year, including a record-breaking one, lawmakers are eager not to repeat the same gridlock, especially ahead of the midterm elections, when control of Congress is at stake.